Premier: Cabinet to Be as Accommodating as Possible in Compensations

Bratislava, September 16 (TASR) - The government will be as accommodating as possible to regional and local authorities in terms of financial compensations after the floods and it will respond to the situation with "specific financial decisions", Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said following an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Monday, adding that the damage is large, but manageable by the state. "We've agreed that the relevant municipal authorities, in cooperation with the government, will make a list of damaged objects or properties, as quickly as possible. We'll respond to this, including through the mechanisms we have, for example at the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry, as we did in the case of the earthquake in eastern Slovakia. We have money from EU funds and, above all, the government always has a small reserve that it can use," stated the premier, guaranteeing maximum helpfulness to local authorities. According to Fico, small rivers and streams are getting into a situation that has never been seen before and the government will respond to these local conditions. In the near future, there will be cabinet meetings in both the Bratislava and Trnava regions, where the government will respond to specific requests from municipalities in relation to small streams. The premier went on to say that the Morava and Danube rivers are expected to peak in the next few hours and it is highly likely that there should be no further threat to property and lives. "We have a certain level of threat, the worst is not over yet," he stated. The prime minister further stated that Slovakia expresses its deep solidarity with all the countries that have gone through and are going through the disaster, adding that Slovakia is ready to help. Fico will speak with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk on Monday. "I assume that we'll talk about a certain degree of flexibility in the use of EU funds. Where funds are still available to the states and are not being drawn down, that we would be able to use them precisely for flood protection measures or to compensate for damage caused by major floods," he concluded. am/mcs